When filmmaker Annemarie Jacir began searching for her next film, she found herself returning to a moment many prefer to forget, the 1936 revolt, when Palestinians rose together against the British colonial rule, long before today's occupation took shape. This film, Palestine36, eventually became a 9-year journey into archives, historic villages, and the ways history leaves its mark. In this episode, she reflects on how the film came to life, and we also dive into her three other feature films, all of which were submitted to the Oscars.
Raised between Saudi Arabia and Bethlehem, and now living in Haifa, Annemarie has always existed between worlds. We delve deeper into how this has shaped her and how she and other Palestinian filmmakers manage to make creation possible under impossible conditions.
This episode is hosted and produced by Tala Elissa. Our executive producer is Zina Jardaneh. Our associate producer is Zeena Shehadeh. Social media by Leen Karadsheh. Research and copywriting by Dima Sharif. Branding by Sara Sukhun. Theme music includes excerpts from Clarissa Bitar, The Popular Art Centre - مركز الفن الشعبي & Rim Banna.
This conversation was recorded on November 5, 2025. You can watch it on YouTube, here.
Tarwida is a series of conversations that bring Palestinian arts, culture, and heritage to the forefront. We hear from artists, including writers, filmmakers, musicians, architects, culinary practitioners and more about their very own Palestine.
In a nutshell, if you want to know more about (Creative) Palestine, this is the place to be.
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Annemarie: [00:00:00] No Palestinian filmmaker or film came out of nowhere. They came because there's a whole history and a whole bunch of stuff that has happened before them.
Tala: Marhaba everyone. It's, uh, so good to have you with us again. In Tarwida podcast. I'm Tala Elissa, and today we have a very special guest, uh, our first from, um, Haifa. Please welcome with me Annemarie Jacir, um, the director and producer, and also poet and writer, um, who has produced over 16 films, uh, and all four of her feature films were selected for the Oscars.
So welcome Annemarie, ahlan wa sahlan. I'm very delighted to have you with us.
Annemarie: Thank you, shukran, I'm very happy to be with you guys.
Tala: It's, it's a big year for Palestinian cinema and everyone is so excited to watch, uh, Palestine 36. It feels like a new level of Palestinian cinema, you know? So tell us more about it, especially that it took you 10 years.
I want to, I want us, uh, to start with Palestine 36, [00:01:00] obviously because it's your most recent film, but also it's the film that you've spent most on in terms of, I'm sure money, production, time.
Annemarie: Yeah, exactly, it is the biggest project that I've, I've ever worked on, and I think, one of the biggest projects that any of us have worked on, uh, here in Palestine. I was interested to do a story about this, this very important moment. There is so much, there's almost been, I don't think any films made about this period, but there's so much material, historical documents, books, memoirs, um, family members, friends who, who lived that period.
I mean, I think we, we all as Palestinians, it's a, it's an important moment in our, in our story.
Tala: Mm-hmm. And it, uh, it obviously from the name it focuses on the, um, the Arab revolt against the British rule in 1936. And I was curious to know why you think it was important to, you know, talk [00:02:00] about the British rule when the, you know, current occupation is, uh, the Zionist rule, and this is what we're dealing with right now.
Annemarie: Well, I mean, one of the things about that period is that everything about the occupation today, um, how we're living today, what we're dealing with, all of it, was set up by the British, the entire system was set up by the British.
And, and you know, I I, of course there's the obvious stuff when I started looking at, you know, material, for example, and you see Palestinians standing at checkpoints, being searched in Yafa, in Jerusalem, in Nablus, like endless images of British soldiers searching Palestinians. And I looked at it, I thought, my God, nothing has changed.
Nothing. I mean, here I am standing at the checkpoints here. We all are like struggling to get through to our families to work, to leave the country or for whatever reason. We're all like checkpoints, like [00:03:00] rule our lives. And so I started, you know, I was interested in that and then it, it's like obviously so much more as well.
I mean, collective punishment, you know, blowing up the house of somebody to punish the entire community, you know, human shields, tying people to cars, uh, torture in prisons. I mean, all of it, all the entire system is is is basically set up at this moment of, of the British. So I found that very interesting and, and I feel like it's not a thing of the past, right?
It doesn't feel like something of the past because it's, it's now, and I don't know when it ended. So there's a, an uprising. We talk about the Intifada as the first uprising, but this is in many ways the first mass uprising. There were uprisings before that because, you know, Palestinians have been, you know, fighting for independence for a long time.
But I would say in 1936, it was a mass movement across the villages, cities, across classes. It's an incredible moment in that way, and I think [00:04:00] we've been, we've been rising up ever since.
Tala: Mm-hmm. You know, you reminded me of Rashid Khalidi's, book, one of his books, he really talks about that period in particular.
Exactly, I'm assuming exactly for what, um, reason you just mentioned because yeah, many people talk about Zionists coming or like, uh, the Jews coming in 1948 and so on, but, uh, it's about the British rule and, and it feels like they kind of like were, um, were not, um, until now, like even Zionists obviously, but they were not, um, you know? So I feel like, okay, you guys come here, like, we need to talk about this, you know?
Annemarie: Yeah, 100%. I mean, it's amazing that, not just that, they don't even, like, people don't even know about it. I can't tell you the number of times I, you know, I travel with this film and people say to me, what? Even when I was developing it and, you know, trying to finance the film people said, oh, the British were in Palestine?
Yeah, the British were in Palestine where, where weren't the British? They were everywhere. And [00:05:00] the British and the French. But yeah, it's, you know, and it's funny how this has been removed from the, from our, our collective memory, not our collective memories, Palestinians, but in the world. Like they've forgotten about, you know, the British and, and, uh, yeah, it's, it's an interesting phenomenon.
Tala: And they've been let off the hook so, thank you for actually like, kind of, uh, giving, giving us some justice, at least to confront them at least.
Annemarie: Yeah, I mean, to, to this day, there has been real, no acknowledgement of that. And I think now there are, you know, it's interesting that, you know, with our film coming out at the same time as the petition, um, and Britain owes Palestine in, in the UK where, you know, people, survivors of, of the Nakba are, you know, putting up a, you know, a case together based purely on British documents and British materials, that this is Balfour, all of this, all of this, is, is the fault of the British.
Tala: Yeah. You've previously mentioned, um, in different interviews that [00:06:00] you'd, um, that you had wanted to focus on the land as a character, um, in the film. And I've noticed that even in your other films, whether it was um, Salt of this Sea or even Wajib, there's a lot of landscape, there's a lot of like driving in the car and there's a lot of land that we see, a lot of mountains, a lot of streets.
So I was wondering if this is what you meant to implement, uh, in Palestine 36 or it's something different.
Annemarie: I think it's probably all connected. Sometimes I think that, that all our films as artists sort of have the same, somehow the same themes as if we've been trying to, you know, we try to do things differently.
As an artist, you wanna be different every time, but I think the roots of everything we do is sort of all comes from the same place. And I'm interested in, in, in land. This is about land, it's not about religion as we know. It's not about, and you know, it's, it's about the land. And I also feel I always, you know, feel very privileged that I'm [00:07:00] amongst the few Palestinians that get to live in Palestine because I know this is a privilege and this is really the minority.
You know, when 75% of our population, you know, we're forced to become refugees. And most people, most Palestinians, they can't even visit, you know, not let alone live. They can't even come visit this place. I feel like it's, it's a privilege to be here. And, and, and so maybe I'm a little obsessed with, with the land because of that, you know? I look at the sea. I live in Haifa now, and I'm in Bethlehem, but I live in Haifa. I look at the sea all the time, and I, I can never, I can never look at our sea and not think about, in Nakba the people who left by the sea, uh, what the sea means to Hal dfa, everybody in the West Bank that like dream to come to the sea, that live in a Mediterranean country and are forbidden to go to the sea.
It's, uh, it's present. It's always present. This, you know.
Tala: And, and it's very impressive [00:08:00] that you were able to film on the land as you had, uh, wanted. Maybe not the whole film, but, um, tell us more about the challenges you faced in filming this inside Palestine and, um, how you managed to, um, get some scenes from Yafa and from Jerusalem.
Annemarie: Yeah, the whole, you know, the entire film was supposed to shoot here and we spent a year preparing for it. My production designer, my producer and I on here, you know, we all live in Palestine, so we were, we had the advantage that we're, we are here and a lot of the core team, um, we're here. So we, you know, we were preparing in this, in the village.
We, we filmed in this village, um, near Nablus, outside of Salfit actually. We restored, uh, this village, we planted crops. We were building, you know, machinery, British tanks. We built a bus.
Tala: Wow.
Annemarie: A bus, a giant passenger bus. You know, we built it. We, we, you know, we were really, uh, it was a, it was a crazy project [00:09:00] that we were doing.
And it's so, it was so personal for everybody involved. So after October 7th, of course, we lost everything. It was, you know, we, it was a complete disaster and, and we lost everything that we had prepared for. The first few months, I would say we were all, um, just following the news, following the, you know, what was happening with our family, with our friends, with Gaza, with Gaza, you know, everything like what was happening.
And we didn't know. Nobody knew what was happening and nobody knew that it was gonna become just worse and worse and worse. And then, uh, we had to continue. We had to make the film. So eventually we moved to Jordan. Now Jordan was in some ways an easy decision. It was a difficult emotional decision, but in terms of practicality it's very easy because we film in Jordan, I filmed other, you know, When I Saw You was filmed in Jordan.
So it offered, you know, it offered another home as, [00:10:00] as Jordan does, has done over the years for us, the alternative, uh, place. And we, we shot, you know, we had to do, the village was there, but I, you know, the rest of the, the, the, you know, those scenes in Jerusalem and Yafa that you mentioned, they, they just couldn't accept that they would be anywhere else.
And the fact that we, why can't we do our film here? We always, it's never been easy to make Palestinian films. It's never been easy to make our cinema. We are making films under military occupation. We've never known any other way. So every Palestinian film is, is a miracle and every Palestinian film has to figure out ways to get around things and ways to do things, you know, whatever, whatever the films are.
So, uh, you know, it was just, you know, the, the creative side of, of being Palestinian is that you have to find a way to do it and maybe it changes from the way you originally planned to do it, but I think we've never known any other way to create.
Tala: Yeah. I think, yeah, Palestinian [00:11:00] filmmakers are much more resilient, uh, or tolerant, you know, to challenges than any other filmmaker in the world.
But, uh, so when you filmed in Jerusalem and Yafa, I'm very curious to know what, um, you know, regular passersby thought, thought about, um, the scenes. I mean, I'm sure like there were Israelis passing by and I'm sure they know who you are. So how was that? Like, how did they react? Also, like I'm, I'm pretty sure you had to take permission from met or something.
Annemarie: Yeah, we had to close streets. We were given permission to shoot one scene, uh, very important scene in the film. We only had two hours to shoot it, and it had to be from 5:00 AM to 7:00 AM and that was like, oh my God. Okay, let's do it. We have to do it. That's what we have. Let's, you know, let's make it happen.
So, yeah, I think, yeah, it was strange. I mean, there's, I have some, you know, I should share some photographs. You know, there's just like hilarious photographs of us trying to film this scene in Jerusalem and there's this like group of like Orthodox [00:12:00] guys, Jewish guys who come by. It's like 30 guys passing us and they started harassing us and mocking us and we were like, just clear this, get out of here, we only have two hours to shoot this thing. Like move, you know? And they were just sitting there, you know, making, you know, sounds at us and whatever. It's, but there was-
Tala: And how do you deal with this?
Annemarie: I just ignore it. I just, you know, I ignore a lot of things and living in Haifa, I ignore a lot of things.
You know, I have to. I, I live in my own, uh, era, let's say. I'm not really, uh, present. I'm living in my
Tala: It's your coping mechanism.
Annemarie: Yeah, it's my coping mechanism. And I have, you know, I have people like also that, that I have to help deal with it. And the other good thing is that I don't know, I don't understand Hebrew, so that's kind of good, 'cause it helps me like not know what's, to block things out because like
Tala: Love it. Love it. Very good advice.
Annemarie: Yeah. The crew members who did, they're like, oh my God, if you only knew, like, what, what they are saying to us. But I don't wanna know. I'm busy. I'm busy. We're making this film. [00:13:00] So, yeah.
Tala: But, uh, you did mention restoring a village.
I found that fascinating. And I'm very interested to know what you learned about villages pre 1948, because as I told you when you, when we were speaking yesterday, I consider you now an expert, like a history expert. You're not just a filmmaker. The amount of research you've done for this project I'm sure has, I mean, taught you a lot about Palestine. So it would be great if you can, uh, if you can give us, uh, little, uh, bits and pieces of, um, of this in particular.
Annemarie: Yeah. Well, as you know, there are not a lot of villages still standing because they've all been destroyed. So when we found this village one, there were two special things about it.
First is that it was still partially standing. It is still partially standing, which is very rare. And second of all, which is even more rare, the, the original inhabitants of that village, many of them are living nearby. So they were really part of the renovation process. They were [00:14:00] with us, they were telling us whose house was whose, um, what this was, what that was.
So it was an, it was really an amazing collaboration. And the people of the, of that community are very active in preserving their heritage. It's a village called Farkha. They are very active in that, they're very proud of that. So it was a beautiful collaboration with them. And, and then the team, you know, I have to give a lot of credit to my production designer, Nael Kanj, and, and the team, the art team and, and, uh, the construction team that was with him, Sami Zarour and many others. They were obsessed with all of those details. The fact, we had to remove concrete, you know, we wanted to, to, you know, we, we were restoring the village and we wanted to do it in the way that it would've been done in the 30s. So our restoration was also about removing modern elements, like, you know, ugly concrete, something that had been up here.
We removed it and then like, you know, restoring the walls, restoring the IL was very, [00:15:00] you know, a big part of that. The, the terraces, which we are, you know, so well known for our farming terraces. And we did try to do everything in, in the way that it would've been done, and that it, you know, not just, so it's not just like a film set where it looks right from far away, but it actually, it is what it is.
You know, we, we, we talked to a lot of experts and they were part of the team of, you know, who are, you know, about village life and the way we cook, the way we planted, the way we, you know, we did things. The actors, I had the actors who were from the village in the film. They took like different various, let's say, lessons.
One of them was how to pick cotton because we don't pick cotton anymore.
Tala: Oh.
Annemarie: So, uh, the actors were picking, you know, picking cotton. We had, um, the, you know, main actress, Yafa Bakri, um, who plays the mother in the film. She has a scene that you actually don't see in the film, but she makes Taboon, bread. So we had her do like a ic, Taboon making, you know, bread making [00:16:00] lessons. Like there was all that because it, you know, it has to be natural that you use your hands and you do the things that, you know, people used to do.
Even if you never see it on screen, it's also very important for, for the characters and their development and how they,
Tala: Of course.
Annemarie: they become part of, part of this world.
Tala: Mm-hmm. You even mentioned to me, uh, the dialect, uh, coaches.
Annemarie: Oh, yeah.
Tala: Which I also found very interesting because you had a very, uh, diverse cast.
Annemarie: Yeah.
Tala: So tell us about that, because it's also part of the details that, um, that you really attend to and it's, uh, it's really inspiring to see how much effort and work and research, uh, you've put into this project.
Annemarie: I think it's important, when we talk about Palestinian cinema and Palestinian stories, these things were all done, because we're Palestinian. And we're obsessed with them because, you know, we want it to be correct. We want it to be right because it's our, it's our heritage and it's our history. And so for me, the dialect was a big part [00:17:00] of that. So we had a village. Now the village is fictional in the film. It's, it's based on two existing villages.
Stories that happened in those villages that I combined like, as, you know, fictionalized into one village in the film called Al-Basma. But every village in Palestine and every city in Palestine has a different accent, so, we created, let's say I worked with somebody and to, to we, this is going to be the accent of this particular village.
And so all the characters, all the actors that are from that village had this dialect coach with them. She, you know, she was with them all in rehearsal. She was with me in all the rehearsals with the actors. She was on set with headphones on, listening. Where is the chaff? Where is the, the, you know how to say things like we, we, it had to be, you know, uniform for the actors because all the actors are from all over the place. We, we had, it was about unifying the accent that this is the accent of our [00:18:00] village, in the film. And then we had a second dialect coach because the characters that are from Jerusalem, I wanted them to speak with a Jerusalem dialect. So we had, uh, you know, uh, an older man from Jerusalem, uh, incredible person who worked with the actors, um, on their dialect, also on set when we shot their scenes, listening with his headphones on, every time he heard like a little word wrong, he would come, you know, come to set to tell the actor, um, you know. And then we had the British.
Tala: And there's the tonality, you know?
Annemarie: Right!
Tala: There's the tonality. You can immediately like, uh, know if someone's from Khalil or Jerusalem or so, yeah.
Annemarie: And, and not only that, there are, there are, there's vocabulary. So in the script phrase, we also had somebody go through the script because the vocabulary has changed and there are words that we don't use anymore. And there are the way that certain things were called.
Tala: Hmm. This contrast also between the village and city is a recurrent theme in a lot of [00:19:00] your probably like, movies.
Not only this one or, or the contrast between like different levels of privilege. So you really, um, focus on that and on the variation of class, whether in Palestine 36 or Salt of this Sea, uh, or even Wajib to a certain extent. So tell us more about this like, uh, perspective you have about inter, you know, intersectionality, uh, with class.
Annemarie: Yeah. You know, for me, you know, that's such an important part of, of, um, our society and I think it's important when making films, we are also critical of ourselves. And we talk about these things. I mean, my audience, is always, I, you know, I always say my main audience is the Palestinian audience. I hope the film, you know, always is bigger than that.
But I, I, you know, I'm interested in our audience and, and, and, you know, we do things to, to, to discuss, to criticize, to be critical, to, to love also, I mean, all these things. Class is a big [00:20:00] issue. And it was a big issue. It still is. And it was, uh, very much so in the 30s, even though, you know, it was this huge nationwide revolt and it was across classes.
But there's also, you know, the side of the story that we don't talk about as much, which is that it was a Falahin (farmer) led revolt. The Falahin had the, you know, the farmers were really, they were the ones who gave the British a hard time more than in the cities that, in the cities, we played the diplomatic game.
We knew how to talk to them, we knew how to talk their language, and we learned how to talk their language better than them. We went to London, we had, you know, there were commissions and conferences and you know, there was that, and that stuff is very critical and important, and there was some amazing.
People who did, you know, very critical work, um, in the national movement, the people who are, you know, founding political parties and, and you know, uh, newspapers and all of that. And there was the stuff that was happening in the countryside that the British could not understand [00:21:00] how to control. They couldn't figure it out.
And that's what, that's what scared them, and that's why they brought in more troops than ever before. More weapons, more machinery. And they were violent. There was a violence in the countryside that, uh, was, you know, for them, a way to, they had to crush this revolt and they had to crush it quickly.
And people have always been afraid of, of the, of the power of the people. It's always been, you know, throughout history. And, and so I think there's a lot of pride in, in that, that, you know, as Palestinians that we should feel pride about that. As devastating as the reaction was and as devastating the fact that 10 years later is the Nakba and Palestine is lost and we've just been nothing but darkness ever since then, you know? We have very good, uh, very few, uh, happy moments in, in our history.
Tala: Yeah, definitely in every struggle, like, uh, class plays a very, very pivotal role in how people view resistance, how people view their roles. So I totally agree and I actually [00:22:00] really appreciate that in your films that. Uh, you feel, um, you feel that you are thinking as a filmmaker of the Palestinian, um, viewer?
Yeah, I could feel it personally because you talk about these, um, inner conflicts and the complexities of the communities within the Palestinian society because it's much easier to oversimplify things and just like adopt a narrative of grouping all Palestinians in one group and all Israelis and settlers in another.
But it's more complex than that.
Annemarie: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Tala: So moving to the cast of Palestine 36, there's a lot of people like, I don't know how you managed to get such a huge cast and, um, a very, very diverse. Um, um, group of people. We have, um, amazing actors like internationally, acclaimed like Liam Cunningham, j Jeremy Irons, and B Abdi.
I was so happy to see him on screen, um, because he is usually no known for mu Ramadan or Munia, but it [00:23:00] was so refreshing to know that he'll be, um, in a Palestinian movie. Yeah. So tell us about this direction. Obviously it was intentional.
Annemarie: Look, I have to be honest as you know, I, I be honest, I didn't know who the Alfred Lab was.
I don't watch those Mus, but I didn't know. All I know is that he was presented to me as a potential actor for this role, but I didn't really realize what a star he was because until we started filming and then we had this one scene, you know, where there's, um, the inauguration of the radio, um. British, you know, radio and he's in that scene and there's all these extras.
And when DFA walked onto set, I watched the crowd. All the extras were like, like everybody started, you know, every, there's like you saw like the wave in the crowd. And then it just started happening everywhere we went. Like golfer has like a trail of like people behind them. They're mostly women, [00:24:00] like middle aged women.
It's like, yeah, yeah, for sure. They just love, love. So it's, uh, and I was like, oh, wow. You know, I didn't, you know, because for me it was just, I saw an actor, I saw a fantastic, talented actor in front of me. I also know that he's a director, and I've seen his films as a director. He's also super talented, but I didn't know about this whole, like, other side of him.
So it's, you know, and he's, he's great. Yeah, he's great.
Tala: Some people, some people are listening to you right now and they're envying you. Like, you don't even know how hard it is for us to get to da. Yeah.
Annemarie: That's funny. But yeah, it's a great cast. You know, there's just amazing people. I'm, I feel really lucky with everything that happened.
You know, I had this amazing cast, really supportive cast from, you know, you know, new, you know, Yem. Like these, they were first time on screen. They were amazing. They, they were so perfect. Um, and so, so much affected by what was happening. Um, the kids, you know, and then the, you know, the [00:25:00] well-known actors, uh, you know, yam Ri, you know, uh, Yama Bass, uh, you know, every, you know, and then, you know, there's, there's all the smaller roles.
I've never had to deal with so many actors in my life. It was a big challenge.
Tala: I can imagine. And there's the cameo appearances as well that you told me about. Yeah. So, um, Ahmed Kaur apparently appears in the movie just casually. Yeah. And, ah, so what was that about?
Annemarie: I tell you something. This film had so many actors, you know, it was really a group effort.
It was a collective effort. Like the, the revolt of 36. Okay. Like needed, I needed everybody to like, make this thing happen. And I feel so lucky that all these cameos, actually after, after you and I spoke, I made a list of the cameos because, you know, I was like, we were in the middle of it and I was like, this person would be great.
This person would be great. I was, you know, me and the [00:26:00] casting director, how about this? How about that? You know, she had this idea, that idea. And then we have, uh, you know, we end up with this amazing group of people, um, that are even, you know, some very well known actors. Irene, Ari, Sophia Asea, you know, Sam Bisra.
There's like, they were like tiny roles. One scene maybe, or like an appearance or whatever. And they were, they put their egos. Aside, because the worst thing is to have an ego when you're doing this kind of work. And these guys put the ego aside and they, you know, they don't have ego. So they were like, they believed in the project and they believed that it was important, so they agreed to be in it.
Which is rare because it's sometimes for actors, you know, it's a, it's a lot, it's a waste of time. You go to set you, you know, you spend all day sitting there. It's, you know, it's, it's something. But I made a list. You pick, you pick cotton, you pick cotton tobacco. Exactly. And you never get, nobody sees you.
No, but I made a list. Look, listen, listen. I'm gonna say it out loud 'cause I have it [00:27:00] in front of me because I was, after we talked, I was like, you know what? It's just, I wanna put it on paper and see what it looks like. I Amari, Sophia Isir, Ahmed Kaur, Frank Barat, an Joanna, Ari,
ah,
Maria Ahmedi. Like everybody who knows anything about Palestine. Can connect to some of these names. You might not know all of them Uhhuh, but they are like all people that are involved in our life, whether mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Some, they're not all Palestinian. Like some of 'em are Syrian, some, you know, Lebanese, but they're, it's, it's a, so I just, I feel like it's all this patchwork.
They all have come together and it's, uh, if you're, if you know, if you're, you're sort of a nerdy person, you can watch the film and you could like look for all of them because
Tala: spot them. Yeah. It's fun. Um, that's amazing. Yeah. Um, so Ann Marie, I feel like most [00:28:00] of your films, whether directly or indirectly, are shaped by your personal story, um, and it has really affected how you've produced your films.
Uh, so tell us more about your upbringing, about your relationship to Palestine as a child and then as a teen, teenager and so on. Um, and how that has kind of like, uh, been injected into your films.
Annemarie: Well, I grew up in Saudi Arabia. Uh, my parents were the first to leave, uh, their city. Both of them are from, uh, Bethlehem, Bethlehem.
They were the first to leave, uh, of their fa immediate family. And I grew up in Saudi Arabia. I, my, you know, my, my grandparents were still in Bethlehem. I spent my, you know, since I was a baby, we spent as much time as possible in Palestine. Um, we spent all our summers, we spent our winters. Mm-hmm. We were, you know, very attached.
Um, both sides of my family, my grandparents, you know, were both, both there. And I, I feel like this [00:29:00] is the main, um, I think where political consciousness is, was developed for me because nobody talked about what was going on really in my family, in a very direct of my parents, like in a very direct way.
Nobody really talked about. The fact that we were under occupation. Um, nobody talked about all those details, but we just came from, Jordan would cross the bridge into Palestine to visit my grandparents. And, you know, being strip searched on the bridge, um, especially in those years, uh, it was very disturbing and traumatizing as a child to, to witness that.
And I couldn't understand what it was about and why, but it had a very deep effect on me feeling that my parents were being humiliated. That they were humiliated without them having to say anything. I could see it on my mom's face, I could see it how my father was acting, like us getting separated, you know, strip search as a family [00:30:00] and then being in Bethlehem, you know, just the fact that, you know, in those years, in, you know, in the eighties, in Tada, you know, the fact that.
Uh, military Jeeps were going by all the time. We used to sit on the stairs, you know, we have these steps in front of, uh, the family home, and we always sit on those steps. It's part of a tradition and just watch Jeeps going by Mo, you know, patrolling the city. The fact that we weren't allowed to, you know, meet in bigger, you know, big groups.
It was illegal. I remember snipers, I visually, you know, snipers on roofs and I didn't understand what any of it was, but I knew that we were different and I understood that, you know, that's when you understand that you're. Different. You're Palestinian. Mm-hmm. You're different than other people. Um, and I think though that had a profound effect on, on who I was and wanting to know more and to understand this, but also understanding that you are not equal to other people.
Tala: Mm-hmm.
Annemarie: Um, and it's a [00:31:00] big lesson for a child to, to learn. And, and for anybody, when you understand that you are, you are treated as lesser than others. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, Soham and then, um. I ended up, uh, studying. I studied in the United States. I studied political studies and literature. I didn't do film yet.
Uh, although I was interested in film. And then eventually I decided to, to work, um, to learn about how to make films. I went to, I went to Los Angeles. I went to Hollywood, um, to, to learn and not understanding until much later that that was not where I was gonna learn anything about filmmaking. Mm-hmm. Well, those were, those were very difficult years.
But I learned a lot. And I did, you know, I worked, I read scripts. I, you know, I worked, um, a lot of, you know, jobs in the industry and I understood how it worked. Um, and I understood that I wasn't part of this. That's not the kind of stuff I wanted to do. [00:32:00] And then I eventually came back to Palestine. I think the first job I did was teaching English at the Be Beta Ham University.
And it was, yeah, that there was like, and I was really young. I don't even know what I was doing, but I, you know, I did, I, that's what I could do. I spoke English well. So I taught English and I remember a lot of the students, um, you know, this was after the Intifada. There were a lot of men. Like men that were older than university level, but they had been in prison during the ada, so they missed out on their education.
They missed out on so much and then they'd come back to school. That had a big effect on me too, like seeing that like that's, this is what this place is, that there are all our men. What, how, I don't even know the statistic, right? One out of every 10 man Palestinian man is, has been in prison. I mean, they're, you know, uh, you know, all of these things.
And then, and so, but I, and then I started making, you know, films and, and playing with, with cinema. And, um, but
Tala: that decision of returning I [00:33:00] find very, very, uh, interesting and, um, um, important, like to actually understand and unpack, because for example, for me, I have a Jerusalemite id, and I can technically go back, live there in Jerusalem, but I can't really imagine that happening.
Um, although this does not have anything to do with the right of return, I will always still defend the right of return. But for me, ast, I don't have family there. I would feel. Like a foreigner there. So it doesn't really work for me. Uh, so I'm very curious to know how you kind of do, took that decision, um, of returning.
Was it like, um, I don't know, like an epiphany kind of thing? Or was it gradual? Was it experimental?
Annemarie: You know, that's a really interesting question. I don't know. Um, except for that I felt belonging. I felt, um, that I had lived in so many cities in my life, uh, and so many places that Palestine, even though in a way I wasn't, [00:34:00] I'm an outsider.
I am an outsider. I think everywhere I go, I'm an outsider. I wasn't outsider. I went to live in Ramallah. I'm not from Ramallah. I didn't have any, you know, really any close family in Ramallah. Actually, I did have, uh. Cousin there who became very close. But you know, I didn't in general. I mean, I was, you know, it, it was something that, it was the only constant place I knew out of all the places I lived.
It was the only constant. And I felt that it was important. And, and, and maybe this feeling that I talked about earlier, that I feel that we are privileged and we're lucky. Um, I am privileged that I can come, I can cross the border and I can be there and I want, you know, I want to be here. Um. And it's, you know, it's important always to remember your privilege and, and I am.
Mm-hmm. I am privileged. I am privileged because I do get to go in and out and I can leave anytime I want. And most people in Palestine, you know, not just Palestinians who live abroad, you know, outside, have been exiled or [00:35:00] refugees cannot come in, but those in Palestine are like being strangled. Like, that's a lot.
What Salt of the Sea was about that. This woman, Sorea, you know, she comes back after three generations. Her family is exiled in 1948, she grows up in Brooklyn. She comes back to live in Palestine. She knows, you know, it's, it's like all the details of Palestinian. She's, you know, being Palestinian and she, it's her dream to be there.
It's the dream of so many people to be there. And she meets a young man who's lived all his life there. And he's, he can't breathe. He cannot breathe everything. You know, you cannot do anything without permission. Mm-hmm. From the army, from the authorities, uh. He, all he wants to do is get out, because for him, that means he can live and just be normal.
Tala: Mm-hmm. Um, um, I just realized that, um, in je it's the opposite story. So what you were just, um, uh, explaining is the story of salt of, uh, the sea. So, so head who is coming from outside, wants to go back and, [00:36:00] um. Um, RI he is from there and he wants to move out. But in Wab it's the other way around. So Wab is, um, it is my favorite Palestinian film.
I would like to say that as a disclaimer. Uh, in addition to, if I want to be honest, in addition to Thank you for banking with us. I think these two movies are my favorite Palestinian films. Um, so for those of you who haven't, uh, watched them, it's a movie about, um, the relationship of, um, Shadi and his, um, and his father Abu Shadi.
And they're basically, um, going around the city of Nazareth delivering the wedding cards of his sister Amal, who is getting married. And it's about Shadi coming back also as a visitor. He lives in Italy. He comes back as a visitor, um, and Abu Shadi, who is a local. There's this immense tension between them, uh, not only because their father and son, but exactly because of the dynamic you just mentioned.
And Abu Shadi does not want to leave and Shadi doesn't [00:37:00] understand how anyone can actually live in Azar and be happy. So, um, it was interesting to me that you kind of like flipped the roles. Um, but it also is very much related to you because you were a visitor, as you just mentioned, in a lot, in a lot of like, uh, years in your life when you were in Riyadh, but you were, you also became a local when you moved to Bethlehem or re now you're in Haifa, so you moved also to Haifa.
Um, so tell us more about these, like two different roles since you've been in both shoes, you know?
Annemarie: Yeah. I always say I, I think I'm a little bit insulted this c always, you know, people said, oh, are you like Soray? I'm like, yeah, I am like Soraya. But I'm also like, I'm a shady ati. Like I'm a little bit of both of them.
There are two parts of, you know, of, of me and my, my life is that I'm part of something and not part of something. Um, I, you know, part of something, but an outsider always everywhere. Um, and I think it's really the Palestinian [00:38:00] story. I mean, wherever we are, uh, Saudi Arabia growing up in Saudi Arabia as a Palestinian, yeah, my family spoke Arabic, but we were outsiders and we could, uh, we never, you know, we felt like any minute everything could be taken away from us.
And I think that is, uh, the story of, of Palestinians everywhere. Even in Palestine, there's always this feeling that any minute we lose all of it, we don't know where we're gonna be, what, what's gonna happen, and we can, everything is always at risk.
Tala: Mm-hmm. And how would you compare your, um, life in Haifa to your life in Bethlehem?
It's a totally different dynamic, totally different environment. Um, you just mentioned that in Ramah or Bethlehem, you were seeing, you know, Israelis and Jeeps. Yeah. But in Haifa, it's, they're also in Jeeps, but they're also like all over the place. So how does that feel and how have you, you know, um, gotten used to it?
Annemarie: Well, yeah, I mean, in, in, [00:39:00] in Bethlehem Ramah, it's really obvious, like when the Army comes in to town, I mean, you know, they're at the C checkpoints. They come in and out of town. They are, you know, are. Home in Bethlehem, you know, is under a constant, uh, attack. Uh, you know, the army enters at any time of day.
They go into the refugee camps, they go wherever they want. Uh, they kidnap people, they shoot people, they arrest people. They go, you know, you, you see the occupation, you feel it. It's very obvious. Mm-hmm. It's, it is, you know, black and white. What is, what, what's happening, um, in those places. And then you're in Haifa and it's very, it's different because there is occu, you know, occupation here, but it's, you know, it's, it's at a different level.
It's, you know, it, this place was occupied. In 48. Um, most of you know, Haifa is a place where most of the, you know, people from Haifa became refugees. Tho those who remained are survivors, really. Um, and [00:40:00] part of their survival is like the ability to continue to function, live their lives. That's a lot what WIB was about, that, you know, deliver your wedding invitations, you do your thing.
It's a tension between Shadi and Ahadi. Like, how do you, how do you live your life? You are treated as a, you know, second, third class citizen. You don't have the same rights, you know, the occupation that, that the, the feeling of apartheid is there, but it's being, it's called something else, or it's like, it's, it's just in an, it's in another.
Costume.
Tala: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, you know, the scene between Shady and Ahadi when they were fighting and, uh, Ahadi was telling him, I don't wanna go to Italy and talk about Hir. You know, I want to stay here. I want to live in Palestinia, Allah. That killed me by the way. I cried my eyes out. Like there were other scenes that were probably more emotional.
Yeah. But this in particular, really triggered me because it really shows you how like, um, how different it is for [00:41:00] each person, you know? Yeah. Like, Palestine is not only like one TA tapestry, obviously a lot, uh, connects us, but there's also a lot of like, uh, variation and discrepancy.
Annemarie: Yeah. And you know, that scene that you're talking about, it's very, I mean, it's very much the, you know, the Palestinian conversation, right?
I mean, it's. I think that's why it's so emotional and it's so hard Filming it was hard, and for the actors it was hard. I mean, Muhammad Sah, when they did that scene, it was a devastating scene for them to do.
And Moham, especially after that, every time we did a take, he was very upset by it and [00:42:00] he would go and he would take about 10, 15 minutes to sort of, you know, gather himself and recover because we were gonna do another take. And it was personal for him and it hurt him. And it hurt him a lot because for him, which was interesting, after we shot it, he said, you know, that he said, I feel like I'm talking to my father.
Like that's the conversation he had with his own father, you know? Um, he was Shay and his father was a shady, like that was his feeling. Even the sound man. Um, the sound man had to leave the set. He's a very good friend of ours. Wow. Um, Raja Debe, he unfortunately passed away, but when we shot that scene mm-hmm.
D uh, when we shot that scene, he broke down and he had to, he couldn't control himself. Ra Russia was a professional and always, but he couldn't, that scene was so hard for him to take that he left, you know, he had to leave the set. He was like, I just, it's, it's, it's difficult one for us.
Tala: Mm. The, the whole film reminded me of all the awkward [00:43:00] situations I personally went through when I delivered my own wedding card.
So I did it myself. Oh, wow. And by the way, I was the last one in my friends group to have a wedding card because I, um, got married in 2018, and after that, immediately, um, WhatsApp took over. So, um, yeah, that's a story. My card is part two. It needs to be archived, but I was going also, me and my sisters from door to door.
And then I knock, knock on one, uh, door. It was this old man, he's a relative, and I'm like, I'm, I'm getting married. I will, um, it'll be amazing if you can come. And I was so surprised by his reaction. He didn't tell me Maru. He was like, kind of upset or sad, and he's usually a lovely man. So I was like. No, what's up?
Like what's happening? He's like, oh. So basically he wanted me to get married to his son. Oh, that's so sweet. So he is like.
Annemarie: [00:44:00] And then his wife
Tala: comes in and he's like, just shut up. So, you know, this awkwardness, I really could feel it in the film and it was portrayed very, very, like realistically, which was Yani. It was beautiful. Because of that, I, I believe.
Annemarie: Thank you. I I love that story. That's great. You can use it, you want Yeah.
Yeah. I'm writing it down.
Tala: But, um, it's very interesting what you said about Hammad Sala. Uh, so for those of you who don't know, Shadi is played by Sakri and, um, his father in the film is his actual father, Hammad Bakri. Um, and I have, um. A question I've been dying to ask a Palestinian filmmaker, what's your obsession with the Riz and him Abba?
Like, I feel like they might have blackmailed you all or like ganged up against you, you know, because like, and this is not to say that they are not great actors. Yeah. That they're amazing, but like, why do [00:45:00] you keep on, um, casting them?
Annemarie: Okay. In my defense? Yeah. They are fantastic actors. This is not the discussion.
They are amazing actors. Um, my defense sala and I, uh, you know, his very first film was Salt of the Sea, which was my first film. I cast sole. Nobody knew who Sole was. Um, I went to up North from, you know, I was living in Ramallah. I, I saw a video that my casting director showed me of Sole. Um, I, I said, this guy's fantastic.
I have to go meet him. I went and I auditioned him. And from then on, Sola and I have been like partners in crime. Um, you know, uh, we have grown a lot together. We have, you know, I made my first film, we made our first film together. He's been in all my films since then. Um, we have a very, you know, special, uh, relationship for me.
He's more than an actor. He's really, he's an intellectual. He's, um, he's such an amazing [00:46:00] artist. Palestine is so important to him. He lives and breathes Palestine. He would rather, you know, I've seen him, I've seen years of his life where he didn't have a penny. Like he didn't have food to eat and he would rather, you know, sleep on a, on a floor with no food rather than do something he didn't, you know, wanna do.
Um, and you know, he, you know, it wasn't easy for him. Now, you know, everybody knows who he is. You know, sole was the Israelis wanted to like eat him up. They loved him. Oh, blue Eyes, you know, handsome guy. Like, let's make him, you know, one of ours. And he refused. And, you know, sole did not become one of theirs.
Sole has been very clear about his identity. Always. Um, sole Has is something special. Now, Hema Bass, I used to think like you, I was like, why is that? Ham? Ham is always like in so many films. And I, I worked on an episode, I directed an episode of Rami. I [00:47:00] went to set once and Ham was there and I met her. And I have to say two things.
First of all. She's an incredible human. She's the kind of person when there's nothing to do, she will pick up trash. She's a, she's a real team player. She doesn't have an ego. She is really, she cares about her work very deeply. And you know, she's a great person to work with. And as an actress, I watched her on set and I just was staring at her face and I watched her, she was, somebody else was directing her.
I was just a visitor on this set. And I was sitting there looking at her face and I saw her do the same scene, um, maybe 25 times in a row. Wow. And. I was watching her face and every single take she did a little bit differently, just a tiny bit. She just gave it a little, it was like watching a chef, a little salt here, a little pepper here.
She was [00:48:00] doing things and I was amazed. I understood then, even though I'd seen her in a lot of films, I understood her talent at that moment and I wanted to work with her. I just wanted to, so it's my first time. Pean 36 is our first collaboration, you know, together. And I, I hope for many, many more. Does that answer?
You have three, six. You have, okay.
Tala: And all the love, all the love to the ri. Obviously we've been wanting actually to interview them on the show, and obviously he am Abba as well, so we, we all love them. I was just teasing you, you know. Um, but also your, uh, your film, uh, when I saw you is also about your turn.
So. I mean, it's obvious that return. Is it a current theme in, um, many of your films? Um, but tell us more about it. The plot, um, the summary of it for people who haven't watched it.
Annemarie: You know, when I saw you came about when I was denied entry and I was not allowed, I was not able for some time to return to Palestine.
So I moved to Jordan and I was living in Jordan. And [00:49:00] that's a lot where the idea of when I saw you came about, because I was now for the first time in the position of most Palestinians that I couldn't get back to Palestine anymore and I couldn't get home. And I was looking at Jordan, I was in Jordan looking at Palestine from Jordan.
And you can see it and you can see the lights of Jerusalem and you can see everything and you can even see the sea on some days. And I just like, so stupid borders all of this. Like, why, what, like what? I mean, it's just ridiculous. And I, I wanted to get home so badly, so I kind of started this. Writing this character of Totek, who's a little boy in 1967.
But, um, all, a lot of that was about this very, you know, childish question, but a very real question. Why, why can't we walk? What is a border? Why, why are we not allowed to do things? Why, and it's about a child who refuses and, and rejects all that. [00:50:00]
Tala: And so, uh, t um, decides to go back to Palestine and he crosses paths with, uh, the, a group of, and, uh, we've previously, um, interviewed Il be, he's a film critic.
And, um, um, he is, uh, very appreciative of Lata because, um, um, it, it was, it was produced in, uh, it was released in 2012, right?
Annemarie: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Tala: And so he says that, um, it was a very refreshing, uh, movie because it included fi again after such a long time of not seeing fi or resistance, like armed resistance in Palestinian movies, especially after Oslo.
Um, he says that in the seventies there were a lot of documentaries that featured Fi and armed Resistance, but then there was this like. Oslo and the Palestinian films. Yeah. I mean, the Palestinian cinema kind of like took on an individualistic turn and all of that, but Lata kind of brings back this, um, armed resistance.
So [00:51:00] tell us more about you choosing to kind of like reincorporate this at the time when it wasn't very common in other Palestinian firms.
Annemarie: Yeah, I mean, I think, uh, I'm, I'm interested in, in the subject of, of resistance and, and. Personal re like, you know, even in, in very small ways, just, you know, like tonics, rejection of borders and, and that how, how our political reality, how our, how our world affects who we are and changes us.
And I don't think any of us, really, very few of us choose that. And we don't choose to be Political. Palestinians are always being asked, why is everything political? Because 'cause everything is political around, I mean, because that's everything that governs our lives. Like we're not living in a place like, I don't know, we're not in Norway in a forest, you know?
We're. Yeah, I just dunno, people ask Palestinians this question, people ask me, why, when are you gonna stop making political films? And I'm like, no, I'm not making any political [00:52:00] films actually. But you know, that's just like reality is politically, whether we like it or not. Yeah. And I was interested in, in, you know, the, the, you know, these, these groups in the, in the sixties and, and also that they had hope and they wanted to do something and they wanted to, you know, take agency and they wanted to change their life.
And I was watching also a lot of these films that, that were made in at that time period and, and how, um, Palestinians were making films about themselves not being the subject of other people's films, but they were the ones making the films that were holding the camera that were filming themselves. Mm.
And this is an important thing to do for people that, you know, we, we tell our, you know, you tell our stories and you, you, you know, one, like you feel the way they were filming themselves was d. Than the way other people film us. They either feel sorry for us and we're victims, or we're like terrorists, but like, when something comes from within, it's a very different thing.
Tala: Mm.
Annemarie: And of [00:53:00] course, Sala is in that film. I was making Upsala, of course, Sala. And this little boy Mah was, you know, was from a refugee camp, Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan. Um, third generation refugee plays Totek. He's incredible in credible person.
Tala: Mm-hmm. And how is it usually for you when you, um, do a casting with someone who is, um, living his role like Todd, as you said, he was actually a refugee.
So was that challenging or do you deal with him like any other actor?
Annemarie: I mean, I, I took me a long time to find toric because I, I interviewed so many people and I'd written such a specific kind of boy, like a very mm-hmm. Um, naive, open, uh, open-hearted, uh, very, uh, a little bit eccentric, a a particular kind of character.
And when I was casting, I, I was understanding that there was very few boys today that are that age who are like that. Mm-hmm. Um, boys are already pretty hardened by then, [00:54:00] and they've. They, they have, they're either trying to act like men or they, you know, their emotions are closed. And I met Totek. EK was just like, he's just open to the world.
As soon as I met him, he's just like, amazing, beautiful, like the most beautiful eyes mm-hmm. In cinema. Mm-hmm. I totally, yeah. Like, and they say everything and he's like, that. He wanted to know, he had a million questions and he wanted to know everything. And he was like, he was the toric of the page, like the toric that I had written was him.
Um, so we worked on that. And the fact that he is a refugee, um, you know, it made a difference, although he'd never been to Palestine, and the story was about somebody who left, like leaves Palestine and becomes a refugee. Whereas Mahmud was born a refugee. His parents were refugees, his grandparents, like, it's just like he's never known Palestine.
So we had to talk about what it meant to leave your home. To be, to become a refugee rather than being born a refugee. So we worked a lot on, on that [00:55:00] story, I think, together before we, before we shot. But I remember, I'll never forget the last day of shooting that film because his father was on set and we, we wrapped the shooting and we all were celebrating and the whole crew was hugging each other.
And, you know, Mahmud was so happy. Like, you know, he carried, really, he carries the whole film, um, along with, um, bla who plays his mother. But I look and I see his father alone far away. And I go to like, you know, tell him, you know, congratulations, we wrapped. And his father was, face was just tears. He was crying and crying and crying.
And he said, I just wanna say thank you because I have never figured out how to talk to my son. About Palestine, like where we come from and who we are. Mm-hmm. Who we deeply are, and that place. And he puts his hand like this right there across the border that we can never go to and how, what it means to us and how important it is.[00:56:00]
I have never been able to find the words to like pass that to him, explain that to him, and his participation in that film has done that. Oh. It just was like, really? You know, and he was, yeah. It was really emotional and it's like that's, that is also something about us and our lives. That there are some things we, we don't talk about and we haven't, we don't know how to talk about.
Um, true. We don't know how to talk about, yeah. Yet, that's what trauma is. My mom doesn't talk about so many things my father, like, they're things they never talk about because they are the most painful.
Tala: Exactly. And acting is very cathartic in that sense. Yeah. Um, so it's very interesting, yeah. To hear about all this, all these stories from the back end, because I mean, as viewers, obviously we get very moved.
I told you, I cried my eyes out, but I never thought of like actors being that emotionally involved because I believe that. This is their profession and they're used to it, you know? But no, there's all of these like [00:57:00] tiny little stories that actually prove, uh, prove me wrong.
Annemarie: Yeah.
Tala: So, uh, Ann Marie, all of your feature films, um, have been submitted to the Oscars and you've won a lot of international awards awards and you've reached, you know, international, um, levels.
Uh, and you've been a jury on several different, uh, film festivals. So how do you view, um, uh, you know, the role of such international recognition to Palestinian cinema? Like how important is it to you and um, how has it affected your work?
Annemarie: Awards don't mean anything because they're just the opinion of the jury who happens to be on the jury at that moment.
I feel, I really feel that, like, I feel like you're, I've seen some AMA and I've been on juries and some amazing films never get any attention because they divided the jury because some people thought it was the best film they ever saw, and some people hated it. And so it's like. You know, it, it, it just, it's a fact.
It's just what happens. And I think they don't [00:58:00] mean much, but what they do, I mean, what the advantages of these kinds of awards is that they do help the film be seen. They help the film get distributed. They help the film break out of isolation. Um, and it's important for us, uh, you know, communities and, and people to see their own, their own cinema.
Um, I remember when Nia Basad was, um, uh, shortlisted for the academy, for the Oscars. I was living in Ramala at the time, and I just, you know, there was something so incredible about that moment. It was with Paradise. Now, um, everybody in Palestine was talking about that film and they were so proud of it.
And then I was teaching a course, um, uh, about film cinema, uh, at a refugee camp. And I. I talked to them about Hanni and his film and the, I remember the kids, they were like, but he, is he Palestinian? I said, yeah, he's Palestinian. And they're like, but Palestinians can make [00:59:00] films. Like we can make films. I'm like, you can, you can make films.
Yeah. That he's one of us. He made a film about us. We are worthy, you know, our stories are worthy. They're not something far away. They're not something, it's not for rich people, it's not for Hollywood. Like, we can also do our own stuff. And I just remember the faces of the kids and how like the, like that understanding that Hanni was Palestinian.
He was one of us. He grew up, you know, in a working class neighborhood in Nazareth. He was, you know, trained to be, you know, uh, engineering or, I don't know what he did. It was nothing to do with cinema. And he became, you know, he made films, you know, and, and that anybody can do it. Um.
Tala: Yeah.
Annemarie: Yeah.
Tala: So it's a, it's very inspiring to younger generations.
I totally agree. Um, and Palestinian Cinema has made it to a lot of festivals and a lot of awards, uh, which is very, uh, inspiring given that we do not really have, uh, proper ecosystem or infrastructure. So how do you think, [01:00:00] uh, we've made it there? Like, it's almost mind boggling, you know, it, it's.
Annemarie: But that's part of the Palestinian creativity, right?
That like nothing can stop us. And then you put a million blocks in front of us and I, you know, we will find a way to, to go around it. We will find a way to take down that wall. We will bust through all checkpoints and all borders and everything. You cannot Yeah. You know, we, it's, it's in our blood. We've never known any other way.
So I think that's part of, like, also for filmmakers, it's how, you know, um, we've, we've made things and I think it's important also to see what, you know, those in, you know, in, in front of us have done like what the generation before us has done because everybody has been paving a road and participating and nothing comes out of nowhere.
None of this came out of nowhere. No Palestinian filmmaker or film came out of nowhere that came because there's a whole history and a whole bunch of stuff that has happened before them. And I think that's important [01:01:00] to, to, to say. Um, and, and not just with filmmakers, but I think with all the art. And with, with everything.
Tala: But one of the really, like very hard challenges is funding. How does Palestinian cinema get its funding? And do you have any tips and tricks to young filmmakers out there if they have, I dunno, ideas for films they'd want to, uh, execute?
Annemarie: Yeah, I think, uh, unfortunately it's, it's another one of our, our, our bigger problems.
But I, I also think it's important that, you know, you just, you just do things with the, with the means that you have. Um, and if you can't shoot something the way you want to, you have to compromise and find another way to do it without compromising your vision, without compromising your story, without compromising anything except for maybe you have less people, maybe you have this, maybe you don't have the camera you wanted, but you can do it, you know, in another way.
Mm-hmm. Like, I think it's, it's, it's just, you know, you just have to keep [01:02:00] working and doing stuff. But I, I have to say, you know. Uh, you know, it takes, it's unfortunately why we don't have as many films as we should. Like, it takes me between six to eight years to finance a film. Um, but, but we do have people who, who do have some money and they feel like it's not, you know, it's an investment.
It's a creative investment. It's a story that, you know, what do you wanna see on film, like, on screen? What do you want your kids to watch? What do you wanna go to a film, you know, a movie theater to watch you, you know, and, and that's, we all have to do what we can. And, you know, and, and on all levels, you know, whatever you can do, you, you do it.
You have to do it.
Tala: Hmm. Yani, I can, uh, speak to you forever, but, uh, I think we need to wrap up. Um, I would like to know what your upcoming projects are now that, uh, Palestine 36 is, um, out. [01:03:00] Um, and, you know, one of my team members in Tarda was also wondering if, um. If this time period would be documented in your work, in, in your future, because you've documented 36 and you've documented 67, um, and you focused on these two, uh, time periods because you've mentioned that, uh, it was a time of hope or change.
Um, so how would you, uh, perceive the time we are living in now? Um, and would it, I don't know, translate into a future movie? You mean the genocide? I mean the genocide and everything. That's the thing. Like there's the genocide, but there's also the encampments, so, right.
Annemarie: Yeah, exactly. Yeah's exactly it, right.
There's a genocide and there's also 1 million people on the streets saying halas enough. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's the thing. I mean, I think this project really was a difficult one. Um mm-hmm. It was very hard to do, and I, I think I need to. [01:04:00] Recover a little bit from, from that and, and rebuild. Yeah. Some strength.
Uh, um, it wore me down. I'm laughing. I'm smiling, but I'm like destroyed. Um, so I just need a little recovery period. Yeah. I have a lot of ideas for things, but nothing, you know, concrete, uh, at the moment. And I've been asked this question also, like, what about doing something about. Right now what's happening?
And I feel, I think for Palestinians, it's very hard right now. I mean, for me personally, I don't, I think it's so, we're still in the middle of it. It's the genocide is going on and it's still going on. There has been, you know, on these fake ceasefires, I mean, uh, you know, we are still in the middle of probably the darkest moment of our history, the worst moment of our history.
Uh, and we've, you know, like we've had so many dark, awful moments. And this [01:05:00] one is, you know, it's, it's for everybody devastating. So I don't think we're ready. I think we all need, like, as a people, we're not ready to tell this story. Yet? Yeah, I, I wouldn't have the slightest idea. I mean, how to, it's funny because people are like, but you know, Palestine 36 is about, you know, the British and the occupation and there's a lot of violence.
And I'm like, yeah, that's true. And it's, it's violence that's still going on today that was set up at this moment, you know, set up in the thirties, but there's distance and there's space, you know, and we haven't, had, not had that yet. So I don't know if Palestinians are, you know, ready to, to tell this story and if we should be expected to.
I, I don't, I don't think so.
Tala: Yeah. Yeah, maybe younger generations, like someone down the road like 50 years later would do what you've done to 1946
Annemarie: maybe. And they won't even believe it. And they'll all say like, how did people, [01:06:00] how did the world allow this to happen? You know? How did it, yeah. Because that's what we always wondered that, well, now we know, you know.
So, yeah.
Tala: On a more positive note though, what are your hopes for Palestinian cinema? Like, this is my last, uh, question to you. If, if you can, you know, if you can imagine there's no restrictions, where do you see Palestinian cinema in the future? Where would you like to see it?
Annemarie: I think, uh, that the new generation and the next generation is going to make better films.
More films. Um, I think that we have more tools available to us. Um, and maybe we have issues of distribution, which is why, you know, companies like watermelon are so important and the fact that, you know, mm-hmm. Now we can get stories out, even if everybody blocks us, we find new ways to, to get stories out.
But I think, [01:07:00] um, there's just amazingly talented people, um, that uh, will, will tell, you know, their stories and, and challenge us. As they should. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's just gonna go up. It's just going to get better. Everything in the world's going down, but Palestinian cinema, that's Palestinian Cinema.
Palestinian. No, but we are resilient. You know? We are re you know, we are resilient. Yeah. I mean, if anything proves that, it's now and for us, like I just, you know, look at Gaza, look what's happening in Gaza. I mean, it's un like, you know, it's unbelievable. Like even with all of this has happened, they are playing music.
They are living their lives. They are making films. That's resilience. Yeah.
Tala: True.
Annemarie: Yeah.
Tala: Ye, thank you so much. Um, this was probably my longest inter interview on the show, but I enjoyed every bit of it. I hope I didn't bore you. Um, it was a very
Annemarie: good conversation. Oh, we [01:08:00] need to,
Tala: we need to get you again for like part two, but, um, yeah.
Okay. Uh, thank you so much, Annmarie. It was, uh, such a pleasure. Thank you.